The Purpose of Christmas - Life

Christmas!!! This has to be one of the most favorite times of the year on the Church calendar, and the world calendar in general! It's the time of year when we get to sing Jingle Bells, gaudily decorate every square inch of your home and church, and sing those beloved carols that we all know so well.

For many, it's a time of oversleeping, over-eating, overspending, and overextending themselves to the point of exhaustion, with just enough time to reflect on all of that overindulgence before making a resolution never to do it again (at least not until next year...).

However, there's a story that somehow peeks its way through the din of all the commercialism that the world has placed upon this particular part of the calendar. It's a story that begins the incredible journey back toward God for all of humanity, and it starts with a pair of lives changed by faith. We find the beginning of that story in the book of Luke.

Luke 2:1-7 - In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

We all know that this is the beginning of "The Christmas Story". However, we need to go back a little further. Back to the point where Joseph and Mary were betrothed to each other.

Luke 1:26-35 - In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary , you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

Life change for Mary -

15-16 years old, pledged to be married, a virgin in waiting. All of a sudden, she has this amazing experience with an angel of the Lord and is given the task of bearing the Son of God.

How did this look to her family? Her friends? Her neighbors? Her soon to be husband's family?

She is sent away from town to her cousin Elizabeth's home (who, by the way, is pregnant in her old age by the work of God as well), and lives there until Joseph is ready to come get her.

Now let's look at the other main character in this story. Go with me to the book of Matthew.

Matthew 1:18 - This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Life change for Joseph -

17-20 years old, pledged to be married, went home to prepare a place for them to live on his father's land. Comes back for his bride to be, only to find that she is pregnant and has only some wild story about an angel of the Lord and the Holy Spirit making it possible.

What would his family think? His friends? His neighbors? Coming home with an extremely pregnant wife BEFORE they consummated their marriage?

What a life change!!!

How crazy must it have been for the two of them? Even within God's chosen people and all the absolutely amazing things that God had done over the years, everyone knows how a girl gets pregnant, and it's certainly not by a chance encounter with the Holy Spirit, right?

The most interesting part of this story to me, however, is the amount of faith that Mary and Joseph had in the midst of something that would bring them hardship and suffering. Their faith was used by God to set the plan of humanity's redemption into motion.

Mary's Faith: I can only imagine how incredulous Mary was when she received those words from the angel that day. Probably just as incredulous as her cousin Elizabeth was when she became pregnant in her later years. Remember Sarah and Abraham? How crazy did they think it was to have a child at 90 and 100 years old respectively?

She asks the direct question "How am I supposed to be pregnant when I haven't even had sex yet?" The angel's answer of the Holy Spirit coming upon her was probably a daunting answer to hear, and yet she answers with unswerving faith in her God.

Luke 1:38 - "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

"May it be to me as you have said." What faith! What courage as a young girl to believe so much in God that she would face all the potential ills that would accompany her through this situation! Oh, if we were only to have a small measure of that kind of faith today...

How about Joseph's faith? The Bible shows clearly his character and willingness to follow God's path set before him.

Matthew 1:19-24 - Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will saved his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us." When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Joseph was truly a caring man. He could have had Mary publicly humiliated and stoned to death for breaking her wedding vows, but instead was going to let her go quietly because he loved her. However, when the angel of the Lord appeared in the dream, his faith in God stirred him to take on the responsibility and ridicule of a man who had a pregnant wife and was not the father of the child.

This was only the beginning of the radical life change that God would bring about through His plan of salvation in Jesus.

How about the shepherds in the fields? Here they are "abiding" in the fields with their sheep, and suddenly the sky opens up and the host of heaven sings the Hallelujah Chorus, telling them of the birth of the Savior of the world! How crazy!

What about the Magi? Following a bright start until it lands them at the door of a stable where a young couple are tending to a newborn in a feed trough? How strange that must have seemed.

What about the common men who were called to be disciples, and then ultimately started the spread of the Gospel to all nations on the day of Pentacost? Who would have thought tradesmen would be spouting the message of Christ in varied languages with no training or education in foreign language?

All of these events were set into motion by Mary and Joseph's willingness to be used by God in an extraordinary way. There wasn't anything special about the two of them. They were ordinary Jewish people, and God changed the course of history with them.

The shepherds? Ordinary. The disciples? Ordinary. You and me? Ordinary.

Oh... wait. Did you see that? We're ordinary people, just like the disciples who took the message of Jesus to the world, the shepherds who told the whole countryside of what they had seen, and the young couple who birthed the Son of Man.

Do you know what that means? Radical life change through the birth of Jesus can be ours as well! How crazy it that?! How amazing is it to know that we don't have to be super special or highly educated to be given a life in Christ? How inspiring is it to know that we don't have to have special talents or skills in order to be used for God's purpose and plan?

There's a simple set of verses that we all have heard many times whether we're a new believer or a maturing Christ-follower. It shows God's plan for life change.

John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

We are all part of that "whoever", no matter who we are or what we've done! Let me say that again. We are ALL part of that "whoever"! Through Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, we are given a golden opportunity to believe and be used by God in radical, life changing ways.

There is a price that we must pay for this radical life change, however... We must give ourselves completely away to Him. Yep, you heard me right. We cannot keep any of ourselves back, but we must be willing to give all we have and all we are to be used by God in whatever way He chooses.

Only then can we truly say "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."

Reputation Can Be Everything

I was watching a brand new show on the Discovery Channel last night called "Swords - Life On The Line". It's kinda like Deadliest Catch, but instead of crab fishing in the Bering Sea these folks are fishing for swordfish off the Outer Banks.

In this particular episode there was a captain that hadn't been out during the season in ten years, but her legend was such that she easily filled out her crew and got to work on the fishing grounds. Other boats were giving her a wide berth and allowing her to fish the places that she used to, all because of who she was.

However, there was also a younger captain from the south who had come up to fish the Banks with his crew. He was a very aggressive bully of a captain down where he was from, and the other captains on the Banks had heard of his actions back home. They were not willing to give up some of their fishing area, and were very wary of giving him information and sharing any supplies.

Isn't it interesting? Two captains doing the same thing, and yet with completely different reputations and responses from other people.

Now, the southern captain was very respectful of other boats' fishing areas and did was very cordial and respectful when speaking to them. All to no avail, however, as the other captains simply could not believe that his niceties were genuine due to what they already knew about him. Is it fair? Not necessarily, but it is human nature to distrust what seems to be out of the ordinary.

Remember Saul? Acts 8 introduces him to us as a man on the hunt for people who follow "The Way", otherwise known as Christ-followers. In Acts 9, he is running wild from town to town in search of people that he might arrest and bring back to Jerusalem for imprisonment or death for their belief in the Lord Jesus Christ until he literally has a "come to Jesus meeting" and changes his ways.

What do you think his reputation was like? I can't imagine that he was very popular with the Jews or Gentiles that believed in Christ.

Once his experience there on the road to Damascus happened and Ananias was used by God to restore his sight, Saul had become a fully changed man. No longer interested in persecuting Christ-followers for their faith, he began to preach and proclaim the story of Christ to anyone who would listen. The problem here was that he had spent so much time building the reputation of a persecutor of Christians, there were not very many who were interested in what he was saying as much as they were interested in finding a way to dispatch him to the happy hunting grounds!

Several times his life was in danger and those who did believe him had to sneak him out of those potentially fatal situations. Even the disciples where wary of meeting with him for fear of being arrested! Saul's reputation was going to take a very long time to reverse itself.

The same thing happens in our lives today. Our reputations precede us wherever we go, and they can either smoothly pave or roughly tear up the road to where we are going. When we become followers of Christ, there are parts of our reputation that we have to overcome in order to be accepted as such.

Let me make this clear: You DO NOT NEED TO FIX THEM TO COME TO CHRIST!!! He accepts us as we are, and we don't have to "clean up" in order to become a follower. However, once we become a follower we are to accept the terms of that relationship, which means we have to do what it takes to live a Biblically sound life.

This is where it gets even more tricky when it comes to our reputation. In many cases, we accept Christ into our lives but it simply becomes "fire insurance" because our lives continue to reflect the world instead of the cross. Our reputation, instead of being one of a nice person who lives a worldly lifestyle, becomes that of a hypocrite because we speak one thing and do another thing which completely contradicts what we said.

To live a life of worship that is completely authentic takes more than lip service. Take a look at what James has to say about this:

James 2:14-26 - What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for wha the did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in the different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

So now comes the tough question: What does your reputation look like? Do people believe that you live a life that worships the Almighty all day, every day, and in every way? If not, it may be time to have a Damascus Road experience yourself.

The Church Scattered - The Good and The Not So Good

Acts 8 is an account of what happened after Stephen was stoned to death. It was on that day that some of the most horrific persecution of the church begins with Saul at the helm. Many Christ followers lost their homes, fortunes, property, jobs, families, and lives during this time in the Church's history. They were taken, beaten, chained, jailed, and killed for believing that Jesus was who He said He was. However, this is not the most important part of the story in this chapter.

I firmly believe that it was God's intention to have the Church scattered away from Jerusalem. I firmly believe that God used Stephen's stoning as the flashpoint for the transmission of the message of Christ to the masses. It was through this gruesome event that He began the world-wide effort to bring all nations to Himself.

We read starting in verse 4 that Philip went to Samaria and began preaching the good news of Christ to an area that was full of gentiles. Jews and Samarians normally didn't mix, but Jesus had made it clear that His message was for the Jew AND the Gentile, and so Phillip brought that message to them.

The spread of Jesus' teachings was not limited to Judea and Samaria, however. Starting in vesre 26, we see Philip being led by an angel of the Lord to go to a certain area, where he happens to meet up with a eunuch from Ethiopia. This person was in charge of the treasury for the Queen of the Ethiopians. A very important man indeed! The eunuch is in a carriage reading the book of Isaiah, but not understanding it. God had positioned Philip in the right place at the right time to join this person of high stature and help them to understand what they were reading. In addition, Philip was able to share the good news of Christ with them, and baptize them in a pond on the roadside. The passage said that the eunuch went away rejoicing and praising God! Now we don't know for certain, as the Bible doesn't make reference to it, but it is my educated guess that the eunuch took the message of Christ back to Ethiopia, thus spreading the Gospel outside the borders of Judea/Samaria.

That's the good news. Now for the not so good news.

Many were following along in the new found freedom that the message had given them, but there were also a few that followed to see what kind of personal gain they could receive.

Simon the Sorcerer is the main character that displays this selfish intent. When Peter and John join Phillip in Samaria and the Holy Spirit starts to indwell the people of the area, Simon tries to buy his way into having the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:18-24 - When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

Simon had been doing magical things for a while in Samaria, and people followed him because of his magical powers. He even had gone so far as to call himself "The Great Power". When Philip came into town doing miracles in the name of Jesus, it seems that Simon wanted to find out just how he was doing that so that he might add it to his own repetoire. It only makes sense that, once he saw Peter and John laying hands on the recently baptized so that they would receive the Holy Spirit, he would try and buy it from them so that he might gain more notariety and fame as a giver of the Holy Spirit. Peter and John saw straight through him and recognized that he was not truly asking for the Holy Spirit because he believed, but rather, for personal gain.

It is unfortunate, but even in the beginnings of the spread of Christianity, we see counterfeits popping up and endeavoring to taint the name of Jesus with false doctrine and devious intentions in mind. If satan can create something that looks, speaks, smells, and acts like the real thing, then there's a good chance that some will follow where they lead.

We must be on guard church, for if we are not diligent, we can be come a counterfeit without even knowing it!!!

The spread of Christianity has never been halted, and it should not stop now. What God began by scattering the Church after Stephen's death we continue today as the Body of Christ. There has never been a more opportune time for Christ's message to get to the masses! Let's live our lives of Worship before the world so that they may see Christ in us.

Matthew 5:13-16 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither to people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The Stoning of Stephen

I've been stewing on Acts 7 for a while now. At first glance, it's a fairly unassuming chapter due to most of it being dedicated to Stephen's speech to the Sanhedrin. However, if you look a little deeper, you see some things that may catch your heart a bit.

Now, remember back in Chapter 6 that Stephen had been falsley accused of speaking against the Law and the Temple. Verse 15 said that everyone in the room saw that Stephen's face was like the face of an angel. My best guess is that in that very moment, the Holy Spirit was filling Stephen with the strength he would need to answer the question that followed.

Acts 7:1 - Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"

An interesting side note here is that the high priest asking the question (according to most scholars and theologians) was Caiaphas, who was the very priest that set the wheels in motion for Jesus to be betrayed and ultimately killed. How ironic that he also presides over the making of the first Christian martyr?!

At this moment, Stephen could have done what you see much of on television these days. He could have gone the tried and true "no these accusations are purely false and I will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are" route, but instead, God had a different plan for him. God had Stephen give the Sanhedrin a history lesson.

Reading through Verses 2-50, you will find a cliff notes version of the happenings between God and His chosen people from the time of Abraham all the way up to Solomon. One would think that this was to remind them of the amazing things God had done for them, but if you read it carefully you notice the common theme: Rejection of God's teachings and persecution of anyone who would bring them back to the forefront. This culminates with Stephen basically going postal on the Sanhedrin in Verses 51-53:

Acts 7:51-53 - "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers; You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet that your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And how you have betrayed and murdered him - you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

Those words cost Stephen his life at the hands of the Sanhedrin. They stoned him to death for his beliefs. They stoned him to death for being an activist for his faith. They stoned him to death for stepping on their time honored laws, traditions, doctrines, and theologies. They stoned him to death for making them look bad in public. This event began the persecution of the church that spread and scattered it througout Judea and Samaria.

Now, while we don't see people physically stoned by others for their words and deeds in the church today, we see something very similar going on spiritually, emotionally, and mentally which is almost worse in some ways.

We have become too comfortable with our surroundings, trappings, traditions, methodologies, doctrines, practices, etc... This issue is not just with one certain age group either! It comes from people of ALL ages who don't want to compromise what they want in order to possibly do kingdom work. When someone comes along and challenges our positions on things that we are comfortable with, we lash out at them verbally to their face, and behind their back. We passive-aggressively undermine their position by gossipping about them and turning small things into giant issues. We choose to say "We've NEVER done it that way before", or "We've ALWAYS done it that way" in the hopes that whatever it is will be left alone. The sad part? This is NOT what God sent Jesus here to die for.

A life of Worship is not a life based on the trappings of traditional or modern practices. It is not a life based on the age of a person or their personal doctrines and agendas. It is a life that is totally surrendered to Him all day, every day, in every way. It is a life that reflects the love of Jesus to others just as the moon reflects the sun. It is a life that causes change just by simply being ready to serve God in whatever way He calls us to each and every time.

Instead of organizing petitions to save the Communion table or the carpet, we should be organizing food and clothing drives to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Instead of complaining to others about musical style, we should be open to the idea that what is being played and sung may bring others to Christ much in the same way that our favorite musical style did for us.

God calls us to have an authentic worship relationship with Him in order that He might use us to bring someone else into that same relationship.

We are to lovingly rebuke, forgive, and educate instead of harshly rejecting, persecuting, and driving away.

We can only do these things if we choose to surrender ourselves completely to the purpose and plan that God has for us as followers of the teachings of Jesus.

Proclaim Christ, Teach of Christ, Serve Christ. Love God, Love People. Live True. Whatever you want to call it, it's a life of Worship!

Gossip, Lies, Deceit, and the Power of Faith

Acts 6:8-14 - Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) - Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, but they coul dnot stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God." So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."

Stephen's story in Acts is a short one, but it brings out very vivid examples of what happens when we choose to follow Christ and allow Him to make us into men and women full of God's grace and power. Satan doesn't want this. In fact, he craves the exact opposite for us. Instead of being men and women full of God's grace and power, he would rather we be men and women full of lies, deceit, and selfish ambition.

When we make the decision to live a life that worships our Lord all day, every day, and in every way, it puts a target on our backs. We might as well call up Hell and declare open season on ourselves! It is NOT EASY, NOT SMOOTH, and NOT ENJOYABLE all the time. It is merely the beginning of a journey to build us into those men and women full of God's grace and power.

Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost For His Highest that God beats and pounds us into shape by fire and water, so that we might take a form that more closely resembles His image rather than our own. I can certainly relate to this, can you? His desire is to make us into people that have credibility that is more than skin deep. He desires for us to be in relationship with Him all the way to the core of our being. Stephen seemed to embody this to the point of being able to perform miracles and healings in addition to preaching the Word of Christ.

However, as we all know, one of the quickest and easiest ways to undermine someone's credibility is by destroying their reputation. We see this in Stephen's case. People with different viewpoints and opinions disagree with his teachings, so they seek to discredit him in whatever way possible.

Politicians and their staffers are masters at this. Mudslinging anyone? The Democrats and Republicans differ greatly on issues, so they continually try to discredit each other. Other faiths (and those with no faith at all) don't agree with the stances that followers of Christ take, so they do whatever they can to discredit us.

NOTE: We do a pretty good job of discrediting ourselves with our actions vs our words! The old adage that actions speak louder than words is SOOOO applicable to this!

A life of worship has to "walk the talk" at all times. We are called to a higher purpose, which means we have to put away the childish antics and the constant whining to have it our way. We are called to SERVE, and NOT TO BE SERVED. Stephen served Christ with all he had, and those who did not agree with his view sought to discredit him in front of the world. Now, this is where I really get excited about how authentic Stephen's relationship with and zeal for Christ actually was.

Acts 6:15 - All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Even in the midst of the false accusations and fake witnesses, Stephen was so in tune with God that his face never changed expression! He maintained a face of truth, dignity, and it shown like an angel in the room. He knew what was real and what was not, regardless of the falsehoods being spewed. It didn't matter what man said about him for his faith was not in man.

We'll talk more about Stephen in Chapter 7 when something that is so unthinkable to us here in America happens to him for his faith in Jesus.

Asking for so little, when there is so much more!

Acts 3:1-16 - One day Peter and John were going up the temple at the time of prayer - at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said "Silver or gold I do not have, but when I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While the beggar held onto Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. by faith in the name of Jesus, this man who you see an know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

The story we see here is so tragically true for many Christ followers and non-Christ followers alike. It is a story of complacancy, and of asking for so little when there is so much more to be given.

The passage says that the man was being carried carried to the temple gate where he was put every day to beg. That was his life! Carried out in the morning to beg, and carried away at night to who knows where. He knew nothing better, nothing bigger.

The passage also says that he called out to Peter and John, but I'm guessing that he wasn't calling out specifically to them at the start, because we read that Peter yelled for the man to look at them. The beggar was merely going through the motions, not expecting anything. He was calling out to the people walking by because that's what he always did. He hadn't focused his attention anywhere or on anyone. The saddest part is that the only reason he focused on Peter and John was because he thought he was going to receive some money!

This is mirrored in many people's lives today. We walk through life doing the same things we've always done without much regard for the effect it has on our lives. We don't try to make anything different happen because "that's just the way I am, and nothing's gonna change." We don't expect anything of ourselves, our lives, our circumstances, or our God, and only focus on any one part of that if we are going to get something selfishly in return.

However, here's where the passage gets interesting. In verse 6, after Peter has the man's attention, he gives him the most amazing gift one could ask for in his position. In the name of Jesus, Peter healed him and he walked for the first time in his life! The crippled man was crippled no more, and praised God by running and jumping all over the place. He was after money, but instead, God stirred this man's faith through Peter and he was completely healed.

We also have the opportunity to enjoy this kind of miraculous wonder in our hearts, minds, and souls. All we need to do is focus our attention on the One who can give us this gift! We have to stop being short sighted in our ways and allow God to give us a bigger perspective on what the gift of His Son really did for us. It takes getting out of the mundane "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." prayer life and relationship we had with Him as a child, and focus our eyes on who God is in our lives TODAY.

Only then can we allow our faith in Jesus to grow to the point that we can be spiritually, emotionally, and even physically healed by His awesome and limitless power in our lives! It takes discipline and maturity to develop this mindset.

Ephesians 4:14 speaks to this: Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

As we practice living Worship as a lifestyle, this is a most important point. We must be disciplined and mature in our relationship with the Father. We must not sell ourselves short by maintaining a "this is just the way I am" attitude. We must always expect more of ourselves in Christ because there IS MORE WHEN WE ARE IN CHRIST!

The Pursuit of Worship - Week 3 FINAL CLASS ENTRY!!

Questions to Ponder from last week:

1. Do I see the music and the preaching portion of worship services as different items, or as two parts of the same collective thought of worship?

2. Is Communion just something I do, or do I believe that it is an important way to obey and continually proclaim Christ's work on the cross?

3. Do I believe that Jesus is deserving of extravagant respect or admiration, and if so, do I actually practice this in my own life?

4. How can I worship God in the beauty of His holiness, and allow Him to pour His "holy" into my "unholy"?


Here we are in the last class entry for the Worship as a Lifestyle class! I hope that you've all found it enjoyable and useful.

As we come to gather together in worship each week, there are 2 major dynamics that we deal with.

The first is the human dynamic. This dynamic has to do with the orders of service, musical style, educational programming, sermon topic, technology usage, etc...

This dynamic in and of itself is not bad, and is a very beneficial part of our daily and weekly forms of communing and fellowshipping with God.

The second is the spiritual dynamic. This has to do with the Holy Spirit having a hand in all that we do when it comes to our worship relationship with God.

Any purely human dynamic is a worthless excercise unless it is touched and guided by the power of the Holy Spirit, directing our paths as we worship personally and corporately.

This week will concentrate mainly on the spiritual dynamic, as it pertains to the elements of worship.


We touched on two human dynamics in worship last week as we spoke of the following elements of worship.

1. The Ministry of the Word - be it through song, teaching, preaching, or reading.

2. The Worship of the Lamb - The proclaiming of His holiness, and of the completed sacrifice that is the cornerstone of the believing church today.


Before we moved onto the third element of Worship, let's take a look at three things that constitute the primary parts of Worship.

1. The Central Person - Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, who has come to bring us to the Father.

John 14:6 [NIV] - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

We magnify the Son of God for His perfect sacrifice that allows us to come into an abiding relationship with the Father, and we magnify the Father for the gift of His Son that allows us to experience that relationship. As the Holy Spirit moves in us, we remember this, and hopefully desire to move into a deeper relationship with God that causes us to share His love with an unbelieving world.


2. The Centerpiece - coming to the Lord's table.

Matthew 26:26-29 [NIV] - While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the convenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

In the church, the Lord's table has been a central figure in worship for Ages. many churches have a table from which Communion is served. however we are NOT speaking about furniture here. This centerpiece that we speak of is NOT centering on a physical table, but rather upon the act of receiving the elements of Communion. We focus on worshiping the Lamb for the completed sacrifice.


3. The Centerpoint - The living Word of God, the Scriptures.

Joshua 1:8 [NIV] - do not let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Psalm 1:1-3 [NIV] - Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

The most common church furnishing that represents this is the pulpit. It is the focal point from which the Word is brought to the people. Whether in songs, meditations, sermons, or prayer, this is generally the place where those items are presented on any given Sunday. Again, as with the Lord's table, this has NOTHING to do with the physical piece of furniture, but rather with the living Word brought forth as the center of our knowledge of and relationship with God.


The pursuit of worship, and an authentic worship relationship with God has to have these primary parts for our 3rd element to take place.

3. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit - Enabling care and prayer for one another, and drawing people to the Savior.

Wherever Jesus is the Center Person, His completed sacrifice is the Centerpiece, and the Living Word is the Centerpoint, the Holy Spirit will have free reign to minister.


How does the ministry of the Holy Spirit effect our worship today?

The Holy Spirit's one main objective is to magnify Jesus Christ. He will come into any situation, regardless of doctrinal tradition or liturgy, where those who come to worship Him make these three primary points the focus of there efforts in fellowship with God.

If I focus my energies on Jesus (His life, death, resurrection, return, and what that mans in my life as I fellowship with Him), then the Holy Spirit has the ability to come into my life and make great and miraculous transformations in me that can only come from within that right worship relationship.


The Holy Spirit makes the Word of God alive as we read, speak, and sing it, just as it did when it breathed the Word into existence through the lives and quills of the men who wrote it so long ago.

There is an awakening within the body that the Holy Spirit desires to bring forth. It is the realization that there is amazing power within the living Church that can be released when the people come together.


It is pivotal to understand the power of the people of God when they gather, understanding that it's the best opportunity they'll have to experience 2 things.

1. The opportunity to care for and share the love of God with one another - It takes more than just coming and sitting in service, shaking hands during the greeting time, and talking with those that we are comfortable with. It even takes more than inviting a new family out for lunch after church! These things are valid, but they are incomplete without truly sharing our hearts with each other.

We talked in class about how surface-laden our greeting times at church can be. We ask someone "how are you doing?", and they generally shake our hands and nod hello. However, what happens when we ask that same question and someone actually STARTS TELLING US HOW THEY REALLY ARE DOING? We cringe, pull our hands back, and look for the early exit almost every time. This is especially the case with new or unfamiliar people! How different our church experience could be if we would just be authentic and share each other's burdens!

Galatians 6:1-2 [NIV] - Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. but watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The pursuit of an authentic worship relationship takes allowing the Holy Spirit to remove the timidity and self consciousness that causes us to shy away from opening up to share, and to be shared with. We are instruments or tools to be used by God to care for one another, and to carry each other's burdens.


2. The opportunity to draw people to the Savior - This is commonly referred to in a church service setting as the invitation time. However, it is the work of the Holy spirit from before that person even found themselves int he parking lot that is where the invitation really stared.

There is a thought that "there must be more" that is stirred in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. While this may happen on its own, it is generally caused by someone in their lives who is pursuing an authentic worship relationship being used by the Holy Spirit as a model.

When they are brought into a place of worship where that model is being demonstrated, the Holy Spirit can draw them closer to a place where their need for Christ can be evident to them, and they can have the opprotunity to come into that worship relationship with Him.


Ultimately, having a right worship relationship with God is a culmination of understanding that there is a Price that needs to be paid (a sacrifice), that there is a Purpose for it (intimate fellowship with our Creator), and that we are to continually Pursue that relationship.

Please understand that this is NOT a one time thing. This is NOT a yearly, monthly, or weekly event. This is a daily decision that must be made to continually submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and live according to the principles set forth in the Bible as they pertain to a life that worships Him.

Let us work together to live lives that worship God all day, every day, and in every way!

The Pursuit Of Worship - Week 2

Questions to Ponder from last week:

1. Am I at a point that God can bring a new Jubilee in my life?

2. Am I ready for a recover of what was lost and a discovery of what God is doing now?

3. Am I trying to bring back the glory of God in my life by my own plans, or in God's way?

4. What can I change in my life that will allow God to make His presence manifest?


This week, we are going to start taking a look at some of the elements of the pursuit of worship. Our final journey starts in the book of Acts.

Acts 13:1-2 [NIV] - Now in the church that was Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

this passage speaks of the church at Antioch, which is really the springboard of bringing the ideas of worshiping God to the world. It was the place where Barnabas and Saul (changed to Paul by God on the road to Damascus) were set apart by God because they were pursuing a relationship of worship with Him by ministering to the Lord and fasting.

The idea of ministering to the Lord is an Old Testament terminology, dating back to when the priests would offer animal sacrifices in anticipation of God's salvation. It was, after all, their Bible at the time since the New Testament was being lived and hadn't been written yet. The New Testament form of ministering to the Lord was the idea of worshiping Him and bringing Him a sacrifice of praise (present your bodies as a "living sacrifice"), rather than an animal sacrifice.

This picture of the early church at worship brings us to the questions of how we pursue worship today. Our desire is the same as theirs, which is to have the presence of God move among us. In order to do that, we need to look at the 3 key elements of Worship.


1. The Ministry of the Living Word - with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, and manifesting His Word through preaching and teaching.

First, let's take a look at the songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Many scholars believe that God's intention for His Word was that it not only be spoken or preached among the people, but that it be sung as well. The songs that are written in the book of Psalms are evidence to this, because the songs sung by the early church are now in Scripture for us to read.

We talked in class about the difference between these three types of songs. A "Song" can be equated to a modern worship tune. It generally is sung straight through, with the occasional repeat of certain parts. A "Hymn" is a song that tells a story. It usually has more than one verse, and takes us on a journey through each verse to the end, possibly with a refrain or chorus in between. A "Spiritual Song" is a song that is borne "in the moment". It is something that is put on our hearts by the Holy Spirit at a specific moment in time. Harp and Bowl worship is done this way, where a reader takes a passage of scripture and reads part of it, while singers instrumentalists take it and sing/play it as an offering to the Lord.

The reason we come and sing praises to God is not simply then to have an uplifting of our spirit, to feel better about ourselves, or to prepare our hearts for the preaching. It's not simply something we do to "get to the good stuff".

Colossians 3:16 [NIV] - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

we need to come to the realization that, by singing these songs that are praises to God based in Scripture (though not necessarily word for word), we are not just revitalizing our joy or recharging our batteries. We are also instilling the Word of God in our hearts as we sing.

No matter the style, whether a chorus, a hymn, or something that is birthed by the Holy Spirit at a particular moment during the service, we pursue God's truth by worshiping Him in song.


Now let's look at opening the Bible itself and receiving a message from the Lord through preaching and teaching.

Titus 1:1-3 [NKJV] - Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but ahs in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

Preaching is not separate from worship, but rather an integral part of the pursuit of worship. Each of us may not be pastors or teachers, but we don't have to be in order to understand this. Listening to the teaching of a pastor or leader so that we may learn and apply to our lives what the Scriptures say is an important part of pursuing an authentic worship relationship with God.

It is in these times when the Word is taught with an understanding of the seriousness of the contents that is tempered with a compassion for the audience to which it is being taught that it comes alive.

We talked in class about how this is played out in the church today. There are those that have all the desire and passion in the world, but no Biblical foundation to temper their actions. Those people tend to get an idea, run in a direction, and ultimately crash and burn while taking a few other people with them. Then there are those that choose to come in and gain all kinds of Biblical knowledge, but have absolutely no desire to impart that wisdom to others. Both are self-destructive for the church as a whole, and neither are healthy. It takes a balance of both to make ministry effective.

There will be times that the Word will cause someone to make a course correction in their lives. There will be times that the Word will bring a revelation or epiphany to someone in need of a word from the Lord. There will be times when the Word will comfort someone who is going through a difficult time, and times when the Word will uplift someone who is seeing the blessings of God in their life. It is only when the Word is taught and preached with that understanding and compassion when the underlying theme is the mercy, grace, and truth of God, that these moments of clarity can be fully realized by those who are pursuing that authentic worship relationship.

Isaiah 40:1-2 [NIV] - Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

We see the ultimate realization of the Word being preached and taught when, through the birth of Christ, the Word became flesh.

John 1:1-2, 14 [NIV] - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

It is important that the church have a concept of these two, the singing and the preaching of God's Word, coming together as a single expression of pursuing and ministering to the Lord. It is a living ministry that clings to this concept, because it is a true ministry of the Living Word.


2. The Worship of the Lamb - Exalting God's holiness, and proclaiming the completed sacrifice.

The word liturgy is a word that describes worship patterns. It has to do with the elements and rituals that we use when we come before the Lord and welcome His presence among us.

This word has been derided and made to be something of an old-fashioned habit in the postmodern church, but the reality is that every church has one! There are elements, whether your church is "high church" or "modern church" that you practice on a weekly basis. These are your liturgy.

In the pursuit of worship, it is the vitality and acceptance of those elements in a congregational setting that can lead people either toward or away from an authentic relationship with Christ.


There is no more common liturgy in the church than the remembrance of what Christ did for all of humanity at the cross. Some common names are Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. All of these describe the action of taking bread and juice (or wine) as the sacraments to remember the body broken and the blood poured out for many.

I Corinthians 11:23-26 [NIV] is where Paul outlines how we should remember the sacrifice of our Lord - For I received from the lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he borke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We follow this liturgy in order to obey what Jesus told the disciples to do in the upper room on the night He was betrayed, as well as to continually proclaim the completed sacrifice that God made for His creation to be reunited with Him.

Regardless of how often this is observed (weekly in the Christian church, monthly in the Baptist church, and on special occasions in the Nazarene church), it is always in appreciation of the sacrifice Christ made for us, and we are all tied together by the common thread of proclaiming glory to Jesus for taking our sin upon Himself.

We see in the book of Revelation the heavenly scene of worship when it comes to this very subject.

Revelation 5:11-12 [NIV] - Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

We see the word Worthy in this passage, which is derived from the word Worship, or Weorthscipe in the Old English dialect. It means extravagant respect or admiration which we should certainly give to our Lord and Savior.

Psalm 29:1-2 [NIV] - Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

We are to ascribe glory to the Lord, for He is worthy of it.


This exalting of Christ's holiness is a basic principle in worship. We do so for a number of reasons. We exalt Him because He was the pure lamb, sacrificed for our sins and iniquities. We exalt Him because it is through His blood that we are washed clean and made holy in the sight of God. We are made holy because His is holy.

The Bible speaks to how the blood of Christ (and our remembrance of it through the liturgy of Communion) thwarts satan's attempts to turn us toward loving ourselves more than God.

Revelation 12:11 [NKJV] - And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.


We are also called to worship God in the beauty of His holiness, but how many people come to church each week that the last thing they are liable to feel about themselves is beautiful? It can be this way for any reason.

Maybe they have baggage from the way they have been mistreated, brutalized, or devalued by the world. Maybe they were the victim of a scathing comment or an indifferent judgement just that day. People come to gether for worship feeling anything but lovely, and completely aware of the sin in their lives.

If, when they come to worship, all they see and hear is an exposition on the perfection of God in His holiness, and not the direction of God using His holiness to bring us back to Him in an authentic and real worship relationship, then the pursuit of worship has been thwarted in their lives. This is why we exalt God's holiness, and also proclaim the complete sacrifice of Christ on the cross which allows us to shed our sins at the foot of the cross and come into a right worship relationship with Him regardless of how many times we "blow it".


That relationship allows God to give us freedom, and beings a transformation of epic proportions in our lives.

II Corinthians 3:17-19 [NIV] - Now that the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit.

It is through this process that God pours His "holy" into our "unholy". Think of it like a trip to the dentist. Just as they drill out the decay and death in a tooth and then fill it with a new substance that makes the tooth whole again, God drills out the death and decay in our lives and fills it with Himself to make us whole again.


There is not anything that we need more in the battle against powers and principalities of powers, as the Bible puts it, than a resourcing in knowing how to face the weakness of our own flesh, the weight of our own sins, and the viciousness of the evil one. We overcome through the completed sacrifice through the blood of the Lamb, and through worshiping God in the beauty of His holiness.

Jesus has triumphed, and after we receive Him as our Savior, we can come and continually receive Him and pour His truth into our current circumstances through these liturgies in order to face each day head on.

Through the ministry of the living Word in song and in preaching, and the worship of the Lamb through exaltation and Communion, we see and transformation in our lives as we pursue an authentic worship relationship with He who made us and saves us.

Questions to Ponder:

1. Do I see the music and the preaching portion of worship services as different items, or as two parts of the same collective thought of worship?

2. Is Communion just something I do, or do I believe that it is an important way to obey and continually proclaim Christ's work on the cross?

3. Do I believe that Jesus is deserving of extravagant respect or admiration, and if so, do I actually practice this in my own life?

4. How can I worship God in the beauty of His holiness, and allow Him to pour His "holy" into my "unholy"?

The Pursuit Of Worship - Week 1

Questions to Ponder from last time: 1. What steps can I take to remember the two parts of the Purpose of worship we discussed in our last section? 2. How can I use this knowledge to regain dominion over my life, and continue my progression of recovering the original purposes God has for me?


We are moving now, taking our knowledge from the Price and Purpose of worship, onto the last step, which is the Pursuit of worship. We have counted the cost, found the original reasoning behind it, and now are implementing those things in our lives in order to pursue worship with all we are.

II Corinthians 6:2 [NKJV] says - "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

This passage can be associated with the idea of evangelism. "This is your time to make a decision for Christ." This idea is appropriate, as there is a time in all of our lives where we hopefully make the choice to come and know Christ in our own lives.

However, the meaning of the "acceptable time" here is anytime God is working in the essence of the spirit of a new liberation or advancement; a new jubilee.

The year of Jubilee in the Scriptures was more than fireworks, picnics, and fun. It was essentially about the recovery of what had been lost, and the discovery of what God was doing next. These two concepts are at the heart of the pursuit of worship.

We are called to pursue worship with an appropriate wisdom that comes from being deeply rooted in the Scriptures, and with an appropriate passion, using the gifts, talents, and motivations that drive us.

We discussed in class that there are those who have all the passion and zeal in the world, but no Biblical backing to give them a direction, so they just run and run and run with no real purpose behind their passion. On the flip side, there are those who are content to "get fat" on all the Biblical wisdom received each week by sitting in the pew or in the Sunday School room, but have no passion to go out and share what they know with the world. Both of these can be extremely destructive to the work that God has set before the Church and the individuals that are part of it. Only with a healthy balance of Biblical wisdom and heartfelt passion can one truly pursue authentic worship of God and fellowship With God.

In order to do this, there have to be clear motivators that stir our convictions.

The first of these is "The Time". II Corinthians calls it the "accepted" time or the "appointed" time of God's purpose.

The Greek word kairos refers to the most appropriate occasion, or the opportunity to move at the most desirable moment. It is NOT opportunism, but rather, a sensitive response to the moment God has placed us in.

We are in a "time" as we speak! There has been a huge advance of the spirit of worship inthe 21st century, but we cannot advance blindly. If it does not advance with an understanding by Christians that are gripped with a concept of worship (more than just a style of music, or a programmed service), then the full impact of what God intends for worship will not be realized.


The next item is "The Call". There's a reason why you're coming to the Worship class, or reading this blog. There's a reason why church leaders to go conferences on worship, and have subscriptions to countless magazines on the same subject. We are called to pursue worship; to continue to recover our original purpose, and to discover what God is doing next.

It is NOT a call to success. It is NOT a call to be suddenly contemporary or cool. it is certainly NOT a call to try and have an answer for what the next church is doing down the street.

It is a calling of the Holy Spirit, who has a desire to awaken within the church a new season of spirit-led and spirit-filled worship, and style and programming have NOTHING to do with that move.


The last item is "The Truth". The pursuit of worship will only be served with the kind of passion that is necessary when the central focus is "what does the Bible teach us about worship?"

We've discussed some of the aspects of what the Bible teaches us about worship when dealing with the Price and Purpose of worship. Now we'll look at one of the highlight passages that has to dal with the Pursuit of worship when it is done man's way instead of God's way.

II Samuel 6:1-15 [NIV] - David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. he and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyers, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah (The-Explosion-Against-Uzzah).

David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.


This story has an element of agony to it, with the death of Uzzah. His death was unfortunate, but happened because the focus of worship (the Ark) was not being handled in the way it should be.

Even though David's desire to bring a change in worship for the Jews was sincere in his heart, he went about it without following the protocols set forth by God, and it had deadly consequences. Not only that, but David's anger and fear toward God erased his desire to bring the center of worship back to Jerusalem for a time.

We can relate to David's story today, because no amount of change within the church, however small, can be done without a certain amount of stretching or demand. There will always be trials when something new is happening. If we choose to make a change, even if our hearts are sincere, without following what the Scriptures say, it will cause catastrophic disease and death within the body of Christ. At the same time, if we choose to be filled with anger because of the change, we create disunity and disharmony, which also leads to disease and death within the body.

Just as David wanted the glory of the Lord (represented by the Ark) brought in and among the people, that is what we desire in the church today. The Ark almost fell off the cart, because it wasn't designed to ride on a cart, but on the poles carried on the shoulders of the priests. Our pursuit of worship today can "fall off the wagon" as well if we do not pursue it with Scriptural wisdom.


Even the names of the sons of Abinadab play into this idea. Ahio means Brotherly, and Uzzah means Strength. God placed them there as a symbol to us that we cannot pursue worship by simply being a good neighbor and glad-handing everyone we meet, nor can we pursue worship by force of might or personality. People will not come into the presence of God in worship by us being a warm and friendly place, or by our strength of musical style and weekly service programming.

The only way David was able to bring the Ark into the city was to bring it on the shoulders of the priests. It had to be done in the way that God had prescribed for it to be done, and when that happened, the city of Jerusalem literally exploded in worship!

For worship to explode in the church today there is something that has to take place on the shoulders of all the people, because today, the priesthood is not a select group of people. It is the people of God, the body of Christ.


This concept is shown in I Peter 2:5-9 [NIV] - You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.


In the book of Revelation, the people of God are referred to twice as a kingdom of priests. We are a royal priesthood of the redeemed in the kingdom, and the responsibility of welcoming in the Spirit of God by our worship is upon the shoulders of the whole congregation.

When it comes to pursuing worship, it is our challenge to allow God to cultivate us into a peole that learn to respond, not just simply as spectators, regardless of whether it is in favorable evaluation, critical observation, or happy passive participation.

We need to look beyond these human responses and have a recognition in our hearts that this is OUR time and OUR call together as the body of Christ to stand on His truth and welcome His presence into our midst.


Just as David entered Jerusalem with much rejoicing and praise as the presence of the Lord came among the people in the Ark, Jesus wants us to bring His spirit into His church, and God wants to do more than just something sleek and smooth. He wants to do something that causes His presence to be manifest in His people.


Questions to Ponder:
1. Am I at a point that God can bring a new Jubilee in my life?

2. Am I ready for a recovery of what was lost and a discovery of what God is doing now?

3. Am I trying to bring back the glory of God in my life in my own way, or in God's way?

4. What can I change in my life that will allow God to make His presence manifest?

The Purpose of Worship - Week 2

Last week we took a look at what worship should look like by getting back to the original purpose behind the creation of man. We'll continue looking this week at what the purpose of worship is.

Questions to Ponder from last week:

1. How can I do more to know God and enjoy Him forever?

2. What can I do to get back to the original purpose God intended for humankind in my own life?


Let's take a look again at a summary of what the original created order was to look like:

1. Humankind has a relationship with God.

This relationship carried with it a duty, and had a destiny. there was an assignment of responsibility to be fulfilled, and fruitfulness was the destiny that was given to us. We should come together each week in worship with a sense of the continued restoration of the original purpose behind our creation, and with a desire to continually bring ourselves back to that point.

2. Humankind also has a rulership under God.

This reminds us that there is a responsibility to have dominion over what God has entrusted to us, but also that this can only be exercised by a remembrance of and submission to dependency on God.


This moves us to the place of worship.

We worship god because of His goodness, and in recognition of the destiny He has for us. This not only encompasses a destiny of eternal life with Him someday, but also the destiny He has for us here on earth at this present time.

Lamentations 3:22-24 [NIV] - Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself "the LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait on him."

There is a destiny for today, and so we praise Him for His mercies that are made fresh each day and given to us to make it through each day.


We worship God because there is a dependency upon Him for us to make it through each day as well. We desire for God to have His way in us; for Him to come and fill us up every morning so that we can make it through the day. This is no accident, but rather, an intelligent design built into us so that we remember who created us, and on whom we depend.


When we look at mankind in the Garden before sin entered the world, we see that man knew God in several intimate ways.

1. Man knew God's presence. The Bible says that God came to speak with Adam regularly in the cool of the day.

2. Man knew God's voice. Adam says in Genesis that he heard God's voice.

3. Man knew God's power. He realized that it sustained his capacities to function in the role God had given him.

4. Man knew his own place. A place of dependency, responsibility to excercise rule, a place with purpose, and of duty in faithfulness, worship, and a walk with God.


All of this was badly damaged after the entrance of sin in the world due to the fall of Adam and Eve. As we discuss worship, it is that place where, having been forgiven of sin, we come into what amounts to an ongoing recovery program.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit increasingly manifesting itself in our lives, changing us and shaping us from day to day through the spirit and through the word that we make step-by-step, incremental movements back towards God's original purpose for us.

Worship of God is central in the process of that purpose being realized. Therefore, it follows that a purpose of Worship is the recovery of the purpose of God in humankind.

This moves us beyond the very restrictive thought that is pervasive throughout all of the Bible believing world today, that worship is simply a lauding or appreciation of the splendors of heaven and of even God Himself in all His mightiness and glory. However wonderful and appropriate that may be, that is not all that God has in mind for worship.

MAKE NO MISTAKE: It is NOT being said that worship should not be used for that purpose! It is certainly a very effective and enjoyable way to give God glory for who He is and what He has done in our lives. We SHOULD exalt Him at all times, for He deserves that! However, we must realize that God's purpose for worship is more than that, and we must remember this each time we come into His presence.

There is always MORE!!

This is why Scripture is just as relevant to today's world as it was when it was written so long ago. Within every command, every covenant, and every purpose God set forth for us, there is always more than just what you see or experience the first time you read or hear it. This is a good rule of thumb to remember, so that we don't try to put God in a box and expect that His ways will always be the same.


Worship is not just a jubilation, but it is cause for a transformation in us, and an advancement in what God desires to do through us.

II Corinthians 3:18 [NLT] - So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more lik ehim as we are changed into his glorious image.

Some have likened the reflection to the Word of God. The book of James speaks to this thought. As we open and look at the Word, we see the reflection of what God desires for us and aw are changed by that reflection into something that more closely mirrors the life God intends for us. The teaching, training, and instruction that the Bible provides allows us to catch a glimpse of our Savior, and in that glimpse, we are changed. That change has a purpose, and it's purpose is to return us to the original purpose of man's creation.

This change brings us back to the altar; to a place of sacrifice. We've talked about that before, but that's where it starts. God meets man in his brokenness and starts a progression to bring him back to his original purpose.


We can study in the Scriptures that progression, leading to the possibilities of what a life of true living worship in the life of the Spirit can be. In other words, it shows what worship can be like in today's times; the time of the church, where the Spirit is here to minister in and to and through the body of Christ.

Colossians 1:24-27 [NIV] - Now i rejoice in what was suffered for you, and i fill up in my flesh wat is still lacking in regard to Christ's affliction, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness - the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.


We live in a time where God's highest purposes for man are reachable, but we had to go through a process of recovery and discovery to get there.

We see the process develop through individuals in the Scriptures.

1. The first instance of sacrificial worship is where God teaches man in the first pathway of recovery, as He Himself sacrifices animals to cover Adam and Eve's newly discovered nakedness and shame. (Genesis 3)

2. One generation teaches another about worship as we see that Abel learned the proper pathway for sacrifice and exercises it. (Genesis 4)

3. Altars become a regular part of worship, and Abraham learns from god the principle of tithing as a worshipful act. This act of worship even preceded the Law! (Genesis 14)

4. Abraham also broke bread and shared wine in worship with Melchizedek, king of Salem, who's name means "King of Peace". Abraham could not have known how far that act of worship would reach, but we see Jesus referring back to it in the New Testament.

John 8:36 [NIV] - Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.

5. In Abraham's son Isaac, there was the building of an altar for sacrifice that tested Abraham's willingness to follow God's commands. (Genesis 26)

6. Jacob also builds an altar, and captures the manifestation of the glory of God in his vision of angels ascending and descending from the heavens that touches his heart so greatly that he can't help but worship God. (Genesis 33)

7. When bringing about the Exodus, God tells Moses that he would use him to bring the Israelites out of bondage and back to Himself. In order to complete that journey, Moses was to bring them to the mountain to serve and to worship (Exodus 3)


In all of these moments, we see that worship is not only to praise God for His attributes, but to follow the higher purpose of complete fellowship with God by submitting to His ways and living in His truths. These were examples, not just of the manner in which the sacrificial order called the Jews to worship, but examples of the principles by which we come to worship in Spirit and in Truth today.

Worship is the key to the pathway of recovery of all God has for us; to the realization of the fullness of His purpose for us, in us, and through us.


Questions to Ponder:

1. What steps can I take to remember the two parts of Worship we've learned so far?
a. Worship is for exalting God and giving Him glory.
b. Worship is a recovery a discovery of the original fellowship man had with God.

2. How can I use this knowledge to regain dominion over my life, and continue my progression of recovering the original purposes God has for me?